Vietnam
In case you’re not a planespotter
CX – Cathey Pacific
BA – British Airways
HKG – Hong Kong
SGN – Saigon
LHR -London
I landed in Saigon last night. After hitting the hay for what seems like an eternity, I believe i’ve beaten the jet lag and am back to normal.
The trip here was quite uneventful. The BA25 flight was delayed by 1 hr at LHR, but the plane made up some time overnight so I was able to make that short connection in HKG. I asked the gentleman at checkin to seat me where he’d sit. He promptly chose a seat next to an empty one and told me in all likelihood I would have a spare seat next to me. He also said that he was pretty sure a cute girl would be sitting next to me.
I gave him the obligatory cheers mate, thumbs up salute and headed to the flight. He was right on both counts. I got an empty seat beside me and a cute girl next to me. The dilemma began. Do I start talking to said girl, as if I did, the odds were i’d be stuck between empty place and a 12hr flight with a dull wittering girl. I chose to chance it. Thankfully she was rather amiable and we had a nice congenial chat.
Her name was Regina, a daughter of those bygone colonial days of Hong Kong. British passport in hand; her family had obviously done well for themselves, able to send 2 children off to a boarding school in Bath and her off to a University in Geneva – studying hospitality?!.
What struck me was her well mannared groomed appearance and a lack of aspirations. The all too common characteristics of children sent to study in foreign lands. Her ideal job would be a receptionist in a 5 star hotel and onward to management; maybe even an events coordinator.
What happaned to being an; actress, singer, ballerina or writer. Where did the dreams go.
This theme of bumping into children of famalies who’d lived off of the fat of the land continued. The next flight was CX725 HKG – SGN. BA vs CX, CX wins hands down. Their staff are chosen on appearance first; I had 4 amazingly attractive girls scampering around daintily doing the odd chores; this was juxtaposed to the family friendly BA staff who had a lot of nous albeit not much grace.
I land in Vietnam. I’d only bought the tickets 10 days ago so didn’t have time to prepare. It hits me. I’m here in a dusty developing country, the taxi’s are all into bartering and the population are all seemingly out bartering everything from fried fish to lottery tickets.